I also started playing around with Navtex over the weekend, and it's been fun. So far I've had readable copy on Miami, Savannah, Boston, and Chesapeake. I'm still getting used to how far to tune away from 518 for best reception; 516.70 USB seems to work best so far. It's been fun to learn this new DX opportunity.
Dave Albany, NY Jim Renfrew, Holley NY Drake R8B, longwires Yes, slightly off-topic for MW enthusiasts, but read on! With help from Bill Hepburn I've been learning to use DSC Decoder and SeaTTY software to decode NAVTEX transmissions on 518 kHz during the last several days. The DSC software is availble on a 21 day trial and SeaTTY is shareware. Once you get the hang of it it is possible to get marine weather in text form. The only hardware needed is a regular audio cable between the Drake's line out and the computer's line in. A nice feature is that I can tune my radio to 519.09 LSB, go do other things, and the text appears as a digest to be reviewed later. SeaTTY is lbrings in a lot of corrupt text, but seems to capture a lot more than the DSC program. However the DSC program when it hits is in much more readible form. Stations heard so far include: Cheapeake VA Boston MA Miami FL Sydney NS Labrador NL Wiarton ON New Orleans LA Sept-Iles QC San Francisco CA Saint John NB Savannah GA This evening I was really pleased to receive fragmentary text messages from stations in Nuuk, Greenland and Magallenes, Chile. While not strictly MW, I find it fascinating that Greenland and Chile can be heard on the edge of the MW band from western NY. It appears that the Chile reception is even further south than Bill's Puerto Mott reception of a few days ago. _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
